Donald Trump and Nancy Pelosi are in a stalemate over the shutdown while thousands of government workers remain out of work. Yahoo Finance Julie Hyman, Adam Shapiro, Kristin Myers, Pras Subramanian, and Mattie Duppler discuss.

World stocks were subdued Monday after China reported its slowest economic expansion in 30 years and the International Monetary Fund cut its forecasts for global growth this year. KEEPING SCORE: Germany's ...

The stock and bond markets in the U.S. will be closed on Monday, Jan. 21 in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. A corporate earnings season that kicked off with (GS) (GS) and other banks reporting strong results has helped. Through Friday’s close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had gained almost 6% so far in January, while the S&P 500 was up about 6.5% and the Nasdaq Composite had added almost 8% in value.

Larry Fink, CEO of world’s largest asset management firm, BlackRock Inc., says that the stock market has probably put in a bottom but that for sentiment to take off the U.S.’s spat with China on trade needs to get resolved.

Small-cap stocks, as gauged by the Russell 2000 index (RUT) , are off to their best start to any year in the past 32 years, boasting a gain of 8.8% over the past 12 trading sessions, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

President Trump in comments Saturday said stock-rallying reports this week that trade talks with China would include the lifting of tariffs against the world's second-largest economy weren't true. The president referred to those tariffs as "sanctions" on Saturday. "Things are going very well with China and with trade," he said to reporters. "There were some false reports about sanctions being removed. We have taken in tremendous amounts of money into the United States because of the sanctions and we'll see how it goes. And if we make a deal, certainly we wouldn't have sanctions...," he said, expressing general optimism for progress. The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter, that the idea of lifting tariffs in part or whole was proposed by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in a series of strategy meetings. The report added that U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer is concerned that any concession could be seen as a sign of weakness, however. Trade issues have been cited as the biggest headwind for stocks rallying in 2019 and the reported tariff removal pushed stock averages to session highs Thursday when the headlines hit.

Stocks in the U.S. and Europe jumped Friday as renewed hopes for progress in trade talks between the U.S. and China helped the markets finish the week with another strong gain. Indexes jumped after Bloomberg News reported that China's government offered to buy more goods and services from the U.S., potentially eliminating its trade deficit by 2024. For investors, the encouraging news on trade builds on recent positive signs for the U.S. economy and indications from the Federal Reserve that it will be patient when considering future interest rate hikes.

The S&P 500 Index, since its Dec. 24 low at 2,351 points, has rallied 13%. In fact, the S&P 500 (SPX) Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) and Nasdaq (COMP) have recovered about half of last year’s losses. Does this mean the bear market is over?

* S&P 500 ends up 1.3 pct * Dollar higher against basket of currencies * Industrials post among biggest sector gains on Wall Street (Updates with closing U.S. market levels) By Caroline Valetkevitch NEW YORK, Jan 18 (Reuters) - World stock indexes jumped on Friday, with Wall Street posting a fourth straight week of gains, and the dollar had its first positive week since mid-December as optimism increased that an end is in sight to the U.S.-China trade conflict. That followed a report on Thursday that U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin was considering lifting some or all tariffs imposed on Chinese imports. The Treasury denied Mnuchin had made any such recommendation.

U.S. stocks climbed Friday, notching their fourth consecutive week of gains, as the fears of an economic slowdown that gripped markets in December have subsided in the new year. Data showing a healthy labor market, as well as signals from central bankers that the Federal Reserve will be flexible with monetary policy, have offered relief to investors who were spooked late last year that the Fed’s pace of interest-rate increases could jolt an economy on shaky footing. “Investor sentiment has really improved from the turmoil just before Christmas,” said Brian Jacobsen, multisector strategist at Wells Fargo Asset Management.

U.S. stocks rallied on Friday, helping Wall Street's major indexes advance for the fourth consecutive week, as increased hopes the United States and China would resolve their trade dispute lifted shares across sectors. The market was boosted after a Bloomberg report said China sought to raise its annual goods imports from the United States by a combined value of more than $1 trillion in order to reduce its trade surplus to zero by 2024. The news followed a report on Thursday that U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin was considering lifting some or all tariffs imposed on Chinese imports.

U.S. stocks rallied on Friday, helping Wall Street's major indexes advance for the fourth consecutive week, as increased hopes the United States and China would resolve their trade dispute lifted shares across sectors. The market was boosted after a Bloomberg report said China sought to raise its annual goods imports from the United States by a combined value of more than $1 trillion in order to reduce its trade surplus to zero by 2024. The news followed a report on Thursday that U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin was considering lifting some or all tariffs imposed on Chinese imports.

U.S. stocks rose on Friday, helping Wall Street's major indexes advance for a fourth consecutive week, as increased hopes that the United States and China would resolve their trade dispute lifted shares ...

U.S. stocks ended the week strong on Friday, booking a four-day streak of gains, after reports that Washington and Beijing were debating concessions to help secure an eventual resolution to the ongoing U.S.-China trade dispute. The S&P 500 rose 1.3% to end around 2,671. The Dow Jones Industrial Average picked up 342 points, or around 1.4%, to end around 24,713, based on preliminary numbers. The Nasdaq Composite rose 1% to around 7,157. For the week, the Dow was up 3%, the S&P was up 2.9% and the Nasdaq was up 2.7%. Investors pinned hopes on progress in U.S.-China trade talks after a report from Bloomberg News said that Chinese officials would increase imports from the U.S. to close their bilateral trade deficit to zero by 2024. As for corporate news, shares of Netflix Inc. fell around 4% after revenue growth fell short of expectations.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin flew from Washington to Los Angeles on Michael Milken's private jet, according to a report Friday in The New York Times. Milken is the Wall Street bond trader who went to prison after pleading guilty to securities fraud charges. A Treasury spokesman said Mnuchin has already reimbursed Milken for the cost of the flight and said he did not need an ethics waiver for the trip. Mnuchin's use of military aircraft for domestic travel caused some controversy early in his term. Last year, Treasury's inspector general said Mnuchin's staff had not provided complete proof about why the Treasury secretary needed to use military aircraft. Mnuchin had asked to use a government jet on his European honeymoon, but later withdrew the request.